PART VDECLARATIONS OF STATUS
Declarations as to adoptions effected overseas33.
(1)
Any person whose status as an adopted child of any person depends on whether he has been adopted by that person by either—
F1(a)
a Convention adoption as defined by Article 2(2) of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 or an overseas adoption as so defined; or
(b)
an adoption recognised by the law of Northern Ireland and effected under the law of any country outside the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man;
may apply to the court for one (or for one or, in the alternative, the other) of the declarations mentioned in paragraph (2).
(2)
The said declarations are—
(a)
a declaration that the applicant is for the purposes of Article 40 of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987F2 the adopted child of that person;
(b)
a declaration that the applicant is not for the purposes of that Article the adopted child of that person.
(3)
A court shall have jurisdiction to entertain an application under paragraph (1) if (and only if) the applicant—
(a)
is domiciled in Northern Ireland on the date of the application, or
(b)
has been habitually resident in Northern Ireland throughout the period of one year ending with that date.